The results are in. All of our goats are verified happily pregnant and the herd is disease free! When we send in blood samples to test our goats for pregnancy we additionally request tests for disease. While we have never had a sick goat, getting them tested every year for Caprine Arthritic Encephalitis (CAE), Johnes Disease, and Caseous Lymphadenitis (CL), provides some satisfaction that our goats are healthy and pregnant.

Testing
Each year after we send our service buck home with their breeder, we wait for the day we can draw blood samples to verify pregnancy. Even though many breeding episodes are witnessed, there are times when you are not certain an individual goat was actually bred. Testing is cheap assurance that the buck has been successful.

We utilize BioPRYN kits for drawing blood samples. The kits include everything you need to draw samples and send them to a certified lab for testing. When you buy a BioPRYN kit, it includes the actual cost of the pregnancy test. Because we want to ensure that our goats are also disease free, we request CAE, CL, and Johnes disease tests at the same time. There is an additional cost per goat for the additional three tests (approximately $17.50) but it is worth it to know you have a healthy herd.

CAE, CL, and Johnes Disease
These three are the primary diseases that can devastate a goat herd. No goat producer wants to have any of these diseases show up in their herd. These three diseases are distinctly different from each other.

CAE (Caprine Arthritic Encephalitis). CAE is a retro-virus similar to AIDS/HIV in humans. It is transmitted through colostrum, milk, and body fluids such as saliva, placenta fluid and semen. While devastating to a goat’s health and milk production, it is not considered to be transmitted to humans. However, there is a concern, milk from CAE-positive goats can simply be pasteurized.The best time to test goats for CAE is after 6-8 months of age when their immune systems are fully developed.

CAE is incurable and untreatable. This disease is problematic in that a goats immune response system doesn’t recognize the virus as a threat to the goat. Additionally, CAE kills white blood cells that fight the infection. The worst part? No vaccine exists to prevent the disease – yet. The only way to really manage the disease is to require bucks to be CAE free before you use them for breeding.

CL (Caseous Lymphadenitis). CL is caused by a bacteria that a goat’s lymph system pushes to the outside of the body into encapsulated abscesses which then eliminates its ability to make the goat ill. Unlike CL, this disease can be transmitted to humans but it rarely occurs. This disease can only be transmitted through the oral ingestion of the pus or by direct contact through a cut or wound on the body. CL will not be passed along through colostrum, milk, or other bodily fluids.

CL typically passes to other non-infected goats when an abscess breaks open and pus spreads through contact with other goats. Blood testing for CL is highly accurate depending upon the type of blood test used (make sure you utilize a CL certified lab).

CL is incurable once contracted. However, there is a vaccine that can be utilized to prevent the disease.

Johnes Disease. Johnes Disease is the goat equivalent to chronic wasting disease in deer. This bacteria is passed on to goats via fecal-to-oral contact but can also be passed through milk. Johnes Disease itself can stay in the ground for unknown long periods of time. The disease cannot be killed in milk by flash pasteurization processes most people commonly use. Once a goat is infected it may not show up for years, resulting in the entire herd being infected. There is only one way to manage this disease and that is to cull goats and use them for food consumption. The meat is safe to eat.

Johnes is not transmissible to humans, and it is incurable and untreatable in goats.